


And This Wire of Mine Burned

by dwarrowkings



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Coffee, F/F, Gen, Waffles, indiscriminate flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 08:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwarrowkings/pseuds/dwarrowkings
Summary: College AU: Nina gets terrible directions & knocks on Inej's door by mistake. Flirting ensues.





	And This Wire of Mine Burned

**Author's Note:**

> For @Dazebras, who random rolled "knocking the wrong door" for Ninej. I'm terribly slow, but sometimes I pull through. Happy early Birthday, since I missed Christmas. 
> 
> Title from the song Canary by The Ballroom Thieves. This is an incredibly Inej song to me, please try it on your music catcher of choice.

“Are you sure you have the right address?” Inej asks. She didn’t just wake up, but it’s close. She tugs slightly at the hem of her pyjama shorts, but they don't get magically longer. She rubs the back of her calf with her foot, and waits for an answer. 

“Not at all,” The woman laughs. She looks at a scrap of paper, shaky handwriting showing a house on Inej's street. She looks at Inej, her green eyes shuttered through dark lashes, even though she has to look down because she stands half a head taller than Inej, Her hair is damp dark and clinging to her face, and even wet it looks like it'd be soft. “My directions were horrible.” Inej can just make out that she's looking for 107 not 101. Jesper then. 

“That blame can hardly fall on you,” Inej says, just to hear her laugh again. She does, her good humor contagious.

“I’m Nina,” she says. Her whole face is lit up with her mirth, beautiful and irresistible. Inej prides herself on her immunity to charm, but even she’s smiling back.

“Inej,” she says, pushing her hair behind her ear. She hadn’t been planning on going out, or having company, especially so close to waking up, so it’s in a loose braid, strands falling out and tickling her face. 

“Well, Inej,” she says, tucking a lock of her damp hair behind her ear, “it was nice to meet you.” Her tone makes Inej think that she’s leaving something unsaid, but she doesn’t continue. 

“It was nice to make your acquaintance,” Inej, because her baba didn’t raise her to be impolite. Nina’s green eyes glint in a way that make Inej think she’d like to make much more than Inej’s acquaintance. 

“Well, I’d best be off,” and Inej can tell that it’s the exact opposite of what Nina would like to be saying. 

“I think Jesper lives two doors down,” Inej offers, jerking a thumb in the direction of Jesper’s flat. Nina looks down the steps into the pouring rain. “Hold on a sec!” she says, and bolts back into her foyer. She returns half a minute later, thrusting an umbrella at Nina. “It won’t help you get any drier, but at least you won’t get any wetter?” Nina’s eyes flick from Inej, down to the umbrella (rainbow, sue her) and back up at Inej. 

“That’s… Thanks,” she says. Inej thinks she sounds thrown off. “I'd best be off.” The upliff of her voice makes this statement less than certain. 

“Jesper won't even notice you're late,” Inej says, fondly. He won't. He's probably still asleep. That warrants another warm chuckle from Nina, and if nothing else happens today, Inej will still be happy. 

“Thanks.” She opens the umbrella, and takes a half step off the stoop before looking back at Inej. She waits a beat, and then dashes off into the rain, in the direction of Jesper's house. Inej steps back into the door, and almost has the door shut when she hears “Hey!”

She opens the door a little, and darts her head out. Nina is waving at her. “Screw Jesper!” She's hurrying towards Inej's door again, and Inej opens it without her brain actually processing that's what she's doing.

“I have coffee?” She offers, while Nina closes Inej's umbrella. 

“I'd love coffee,” Nina says, “But I need enough sugar in it to kill a horse.” She shakes the umbrella off, and hands it back to Inej. Her hair is still slightly damp, and the hem of her ankle length dress is a little worse for the wear, but she looks the way that her baba always described her mama – like a plant with it's face turned toward the sun.

“You're in luck, then,” Inej says, “I just got my horse killing sugar shipment in yesterday.” She drops the umbrella on the table with her keys, not caring if it's dry. She leads the way into her kitchen, which already smells like coffee. She stands on tip-toes to get Nina a mug out of the cabinet. Handing it to her, she nods toward the small, slightly cluttered breakfast table next to the sliding door looking over her terrace. Her homework is spread over the table, because most mornings, she likes to sit in the watery sunlight and do her homework. But today is Saturday. 

“Bless you,” Nina says when Inej brings the pot over and fills up Nina's cup. She nudges the sugar closer to her, and Nina while dutifully dumps four or five spoonfuls into it, Inej pours herself a cup. As she's returning the carafe to the base, Nina stirs the sugar and coffee together. Then she takes the spoon out, sticks it in her mouth, humming. Half a second later, she looks up at Inej, like a deer caught in the headlights. Inej suppresses laughter, leaning back against the counter of her kitchenette, and Nina bursts out into guffaws. 

Inej curls her fingers around the side of her mug, and smiles. 

“I guess you'll have to get a new spoon if you want some sugar,” Nina says, with just a hint of suggestiveness. Her eyebrows are doing the thing again. 

“Baby, I got all the sugar I need,” Inej says, automatically, and then blushes. Nina is taking a drink, and snorts coffee into her mouth. 

“Oh, hot too hot,” she croons, “I loved you, why do you have to hurt me like this?” Inej smiles. 

“If the things we love don't have the power to hurt us, do we truly love them?” 

“That's too deep for…” she looks at her wrist, as if she had a watch. She isn't wearing a watch. “10:30 in the morning on a Saturday.”

“You're totally right.” Inej's stomach rumbles. She looks down at her stomach, horrified, and then shrugs. “I guess I'm making breakfast. Uh, Waffles are a Saturday tradition for me, is that okay?”

“Yeah,” Nina smiles, like they have a private joke already “waffles are perfect.”


End file.
